I am going to purchase my first digital camera and have narrowed the search down to the Nikon 990 or the Olympus 3030 or 3000 (I would like to keep the cost under $1000 US). I will be using this in conjuction with a Macintosh platform and an Epson Stylus Photo 1270 printer. I never ever shoot with automatic cameras and prefer setting the shutter and f-stops myself. I also need a wide range of digital ISO equivalant and other manual features. The Nikon appeals because of the good reviews but the swivel lens is kind of dopey. The Olympus 3000 appeals because of its price (I already own Adobe Photoshop so the 3030 seems like overkill except for the RAM buffer). I just want to take really sharp pictures with accurate color and be able to print them at least 8 x 10 or 11 x 14 without any real distortion or loss of resolution. My question is this: Is the Nikon worth the extra $200 or will the Olympus suit my needs? Is the Nikon really limited in its manual settings and ISO settings or will I even notice a difference in the digital world? Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-- Steve Cooley (stevecooley@earthlink.net), August 21, 2000

Answers

I've had my eye on the Olympus models for a while now, but haven't been able to justify the money for a new digital camera. Did want to let you know that Jeff Keller of the Digital Camera Resource Page posted a comparison review that I found quite interesting. Most of the other digicam portals refuse to offer much in the way of direct comparisons, but Jeff doesn't seem to be afraid to voice his opinion (an admirable quality).

Take a look and see what he has to say:

http://www.dcresource.com/specials/C3030Z_vs_CP990/

Best of luck on your decision.

- Craig Cunningham

-- Craig Cunningham (craig.cunningham@excite.com), August 24, 2000.